Winnie's Journal
by AnonJenna
Summary: based on the novel by natalie babbit... this is a journal of entries written by little Winnie Foster right after her 'abduction'...


October 11, 1880  
  
Oh Diary! You would never believe what adventures I've had these past few months. It's been amazing, and that's why I haven't written for so long. It all began with my friend, Mr. Toad. He was being his usual smug self on the other side of the gate, and I was sulking. I was just so tired of being told how to do everything. Being told not to do this, or that, and I was most tired of hearing grandmother and mother yell: Winnifred! I just wanted to be free. Free to do what I want and free to live as I pleased. So I made a promise to myself, and to my toad, to do just that. The next morning I just walked outside the gate, into our wood. It was just so much more simpler then I had ever imagined. I had told the toad and myself that I was running away, but I had of course every intention of coming back home after an hour or two, I didn't want to worry grandmother or mother! This having been my first time in the wood, I had gotten pretty lost. Just as I was starting to panic, I saw him. The most gorgeous boy I've ever seen. He looked about 17, and I just couldn't tear my eyes away from him. I had never seen anyone like him before. He had had a thick mop of curly brown hair on top of his sunburned face, he looked almost a man. He was. He was drinking from a spring, that was under this ancient tree. I was peering at him from under some brush, but he spotted me and I immediately stood up. I asked what he was doing in my wood. He looked confused then said, oh, you must be a Foster. I told I most certainly was, Winnifred, Winnie, Foster to be exact. He said his name was Jesse. Jesse Tuck. Isn't that just the most wonderful name diary? Well I was quite thirsty from my excursion, and went to go get a drink from the spring. The Jesse he just became mad, and wouldn't let me do it. I didn't understand. Pretty soon he was calling for his mother and brother Miles, and the next thing I knew they were saying that they'd have to take me with them. They didn't look like criminals, but the next thing I knew diary, I was being kid napped! It wasn't at all what I had imagined diary, see they were just so kind. They let me ride their horse to their home, and Mae, Jesse's mother let me wear her to keep from getting sunburn. I was so scared though diary, I just didn't know what to expect. Gosh! I have to go for now diary, grandmother is calling me, we are supposed to have tea! I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can, for I just need to tell you of my adventures.  
  
  
  
October 15, 1880  
  
Diary, now that you've had time to process the thought, isn't it queer that I, Winnie Foster, was kidnapped. I know, I still can't believe it, but it was for the best I think. Well, let me first tell you more of the early stages of my adventure. While we were on our way back to the house of the Tucks, we saw the man in the yellow suit. Remember I told you of him the night before my abduction? I thought he would certainly tell my father where I was, and that I would be rescued shortly. A little after the encounter with the man in the yellow suit, we took a rest underneath a shady tree. There while we were all resting the Tucks told me there secret. They said that the spring that I had wanted to drink form was one with some sort of magical power. The same spring that had given them ETERNAL life, dear diary. At first I thought them all insane. Criminally insane, but they just seemed to tell it with such truth, that I sort of believed them. They also said that they were sorry about taking me, it was just that they didn't know what to do. They said I would be brought home shortly. They said they just needed Tuck, Jesse's father to speak to me. Once we reached the house, Tuck was already there waiting because Miles and had run ahead and told him they'd brought me, a natural child home with them. Tuck was a big man, and though he looked rough it was only because of all the hardships he had faced, for Tuck is one of the dearest souls I've ever met. He looked me over, and I became ever so bashful, the way I guess a lady should behave in front of a man, mother would have been proud. Any way that night we ate dinner together. Oh, but not just any dinner diary, we had FLAPJACKS the most wonderful food there is! We didn't sit at a table either, everyone just stood around their parlor, and ate quietly to themselves. It was the most peculiar dinner I've ever had. Diary I shall right more later, I must go to my dreadful piano lesson with Madam MaFou.  
  
October 20, 1880  
  
Oh diary, I just can't stop thinking about my Tucks! I miss them so terribly. Well, were was I in my tale? ah, yes. After dinner Tuck took me out on the lake in his little row boat. There, with nature- growing and changing all around us, Tuck told me the whole tale. He told me that they all had drank form that magical spring, by accident, but that it wasn't a gift. It was a nightmare. He said that people weren't meant to out grow everything, they were meant to grow old and die, and make more room for new people. Animals were to do the same, this he said was the circle of life. He said what he and the other Tucks wasn't really living-it was just being. He said they kept it a secret because they knew that if other people knew, they'd all come running for a drink, and that would be a horrible thing. He said it was also important that I too keep their secret to prevent people from destroying themselves. He needed me, they all needed me to help protect them. Afterwards we went back inside and soon it was time for bed. Mae offered me one of her nightgowns, but I just couldn't except. It was just too hard being in this strange place, with these strange place, on this strange couch. I needed my nightgown, and my own bed. Throughout the night both Mae and Tuck came to check up on me, they were so kind. I couldn't fall asleep, and then at midnight Jesse came down from his loft where he had been bedding with Miles. He am over and sat down to talk to me. He wanted to make sure I kept the secret, but he also wanted to make a proposal. He said that if I drank the water in 6 years, when I'm 17, that he'd come back for me. He said that he'd marry me, that he'd show me the world and always take care of me. He told me not to answer right away, but to think about it seeing how as it was such a big decision. Diary, I truly thought they were all mad. I was so confused that night. Through all of it I realized that I didn't care about whether or not they were mad, I knew I loved them all. My dear, sweet Tucks. I believed them, and promised myself I would never share their secret, with you as my one exception.   
  
  
  
October 26, 1880  
  
Diary the next morning I went fishing with Miles. We talked for a while and he said that I reminded him of his daughter, Anna. He was explaining to me some more about the way of life, or at least how it should be, and why I should not drink the water and why it was a curse. He said that all living things were meant to die, except now for them. He said he had out lived to children and a wife. He said that's not how the world should be, and that if he had the chance to die tomorrow he would. Unfortunately for poor Miles, he'll never get that choice. Just then in the middle of our conversation, and Miles teaching me how to fish, we caught something. Miles pulled the fish out of the water, and I just saw it squirming desperately, fighting a worthless fight not to die. I just couldn't bare it and I asked Miles to throw it back. He said that these are the way things are supposed to be done, but he thought it back nonetheless. He told everyone else once we got back that the fish just weren't biting, and instead we had those wonderful flapjacks for breakfast again. After breakfast the Tucks were setting it so I could be brought home when the man in the yellow suit came right up to us and spoke. He knew everything diary, he said he had been tracking the Tucks for many years, having known Miles' family. He said most thought his late wife crazy, but not him. He also said that he knew the whole story because he had followed us home the day before, and heard their tale when I did. He said he was going to cell the water, and make a fortune. He said he wanted the Tucks to be the examples, seeing how as they'd already drank from the spring. The tucks protested, and that's when he grabbed me and said he'd have me drink it and I'd could be the freak on tour. He was kidnapping me, diary, and that's when Mae took the shotgun and hit him on the back of the head with it. The man went down instantly, and the constable had just come and seen it all. He said Mae was being arrested and if the man died, she be hung. We were brought back into town, while the Tuck men nursed the man that had threaten all. However it was not enough, the man died, and Mae was to be hung.   
  
  
  
November 1, 1880   
  
It had seemed like forever until I saw my next Tuck diary. I was just inside my gate by myself and Jesse came up beside me. He approached me with a plan. A plan to free Mae from jail, and to save their true selves. I was to meet him, Miles and Tuck at midnight. We were to pry off the bars of Mae's cell, and she was to climb out. After that I was to climb in, and puff the covers up over me, pretending to be Mae. This all would allow Mae, and the Tucks to get away. He also gave ma a tiny bottle of spring water, and told me to drink it at 17, he said he come back for me, If our plan worked, it would be a long time before I could see the Tucks again. A long time before I would ever see Jesse.   
  
November 4, 1880  
  
Our plan worked. We got Mae out, and I bid my Tucks farewell, and then they were gone. The next morning the sheriff found me as I knew he eventually would. He brought me back home. Oh how I have shamed my parents, I wonder if they will ever forgive me. Ever trust me again. I wonder if I'll drink the water at 17. I wonder if I'll ever see my Tucks again. I wonder if I'll get married, have children, and die old and happy. Most of all diary, I just wonder what will happen of me, Winnifred Foster.   
  
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End file.
